Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida
Thursday, March 21st, 2019

Balancing Rights and Responsibilities

January 06, 2019

There are two ways of looking at the role and position of an individual within a society. One is through the lens of rights, while the other is through the lens of responsibilities. Mostly, the first one is the way, the people or the subjects want to see themselves. They perceive themselves as the ones with the rights and they consider that the governments have the responsibilities to fulfill those rights; therefore, most of their focus is whether the individuals are getting their rights and the governments are performing well to satiate those rights.
The other perspective is mostly adopted by the governments; they want to see the people to be responsible citizens and expect that they should perform all the responsibilities that the state expects them to perform. They consider the individuals worthy to be given their rights only after they fulfill their responsibilities. However, it is important to see that both these views are extreme in nature.
For the people, it is really important to have a balanced view. They don’t have to see their position within the society only from the perspective of the rightful candidates for certain decided rights; rather, they have to realize that they have many important responsibilities as well which they have to perform. Because of the cooperative nature of the society, it is vital to understand that all the individuals are responsible for the development of the society equally. If there are certain shortcomings within the society, the people are responsible in certain ways as well.
It is really weird to find people blaming only the governments for all the disorder and problems in the society. Before blaming the governments for all the misdeeds, it is important to consider some of very important questions – Have we ever bothered to see around ourselves and know the problems deeply? Have we every tied to bring about developments in the society? Have we ever been quite responsible to play our roles? Have we ever thought to keep the social matters above all other concerns? Have we ever considered working for the society selflessly? Have we ever realized our duties towards the society beyond our rights? Have we ever recognized our own tendency and things we can do for betterment? And have we ever learnt to have a critical view over our actions as and ask ourselves about the mistakes that we commit without much consideration? Or we have only found the easiest way to put the entire burden over shoulders of the governments? It is important to note that all the governments that we hold responsible for having done nothing and for all harms to the society, are composed of the people who live in the same surroundings we have and they lead us because we have made them so. Without the will and cooperation of the people, leaders would never become leaders. It is also imperative to consider that when we ourselves escape our duties, why shouldn’t the leaders do the same, as they are human beings as well? When we have never considered the evil to be eliminated from the roots and deconstruct the old useless system; how can we think to build anything new? How come we expect the leaders to be different from us when they are the products of the same corrupt society? We do not have the complete privilege to criticize them when we have never seen into our own collars. It is necessary to understand that the leaders may be able to give just a guideline to follow and ultimately it is the people themselves who have bring about changes.
As the human society is becoming more and more democratic the role of the people is getting more and more importance. The will of the people basically gets transformed into elections that choose the leaders to govern the country. Most of the institutions in democratic setup are people centered, not autocratic where the leaders alone take decisions; therefore, it is important in such setup that how the subjects are, and what sort of role they play. If the subjects are aware, active and cooperative, a democratic setup is bound to be successful.
Our society can never go forth if we rely only on some representatives to do it. Unless we, all the common members of the society, try to support them, we will not face success in life. Let us leave blaming the governments and leaders only, because they are not wrong alone; we are their partners of equal shares of evils and let us promise to use up our energy and strength all together for a common cause and purpose and a broader perspective of mass well-being. Let us substitute the old ideas with the new ones in order to go with the pace of developed and civilized world. Let us not only talk about our rights but speak up for our duties as well to have a better society. Let us all be active to play our role to fill the gap between leaders and the common people. Let us think beyond our personal interests to coup with the changing mood of the entire world.